U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) initiated the Ground Mobility Vehicle 1.1 (GMV 1.1) program to find a suitable vehicle to replace their legacy HMMWV based GMV’s. After a long and sometimes contentious process, the Flyer 72 ALSV was selected as USSOCOM's new GMV over the other two competition finalists, AM General's GMV 1.1 and Navistar Defense's Special Operations Tactical Vehicle.

To perform these missions, the Flyer 72 is designed to be compact so it is easily transportable by C-5, C-17 and C-130 aircraft as well as CH-47, CH-53, UH-60 and V-22 Osprey helicopters.  It is also a relatively cost-effective vehicle because 80 percent of the ALSV is built using commercial-off-the-shelf or Humvee compatible parts, yet also being able to be up-armored if a mission calls for that feature. A bit later in the vehicle's life, the Tactical Utility Vehicle (TUV) variant was created as well.

The Flyer 72 GMV 1.1 should not be confused with very similar Flyer 60 ALSV, also built by Flyer Defense.  The main difference between the vehicles is that the Flyer 60 is about two inches shorter in length and about one foot shorter in height and also that much narrower in width, than the Flyer 72.

As a confusing side note, another version of the Flyer 72 ALSV was entered into the US Army's later (2014) Ultra Light Combat Vehicle (ULCV) Program; which it also won.  The ULCV was envisioned as a air-insertable vehicle that could quickly get troops from air-landing zones to their targets. In 2015 the US Army changed the name of the ULCV program to Ground Mobility Vehicle (GMV). As a result, the name this Flyer 72 version was also changed to the M1297 Army-Ground Mobility Vehicle (A-GMV) so as to differentiate it from the HMMWV GMV's and the subsequent GMV 1.1. 

In yet another Army program in 2019, a new Infantry Squad Vehicle (ISV) was to be selected.  The upgraded Flyer 72 was also entered into this competition by Polaris, but with Oshkosh Defense joining them as a partner.  Unfortunately, the Flyer 72 was not selected again by the Army, being beaten out by the Infantry Squad Vehicle submitted by the General Motors Defense LLC./Ricardo PLC consortium.